Wednesday, 10 October 2012

The Eternity Clock released for PS Vita

After several months delay, BBC Worldwide have finally launched Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock for the Sony PS Vita platform; the game is available to download now from the US and European PS Stores.

BBC Worldwide's executive producer Simon Harris explained via the Playstation Blog how the Vita version improves on the original PlayStation release:

The PS Vita version of the game will have several new features that we’ve been working on the past few months. One example are the new PS Vita controls, which utilize the combination of the dual analog stick controls and PS Vita's touchscreen features, enabling players to switch between the more traditional controls and the ability to tap the screen to affect the action. All of the puzzle games within the game have been reworked to make full use of touchscreen controls as well.

We're also tapping into "near", PS Vita's geo-social service. Using "near", players can collect “Gallifreyan” medals while playing through the adventure and then drop them in a GPS location for other players to collect. Grow your collection while searching for other players’ medals!

We'll also support PS Vita's Cloud Save option for players who own Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock on both PS3 and PS Vita in the form of "Continuation Play." This enables you to save your game on one device and load it on the other, which means you can continue your adventure while you’re on the move with your PS Vita and then pick it back up from the same place at home on your PS3.

The game, featuring Matt Smith as the Doctor and Alex Kingston as River Song, was originally released for the Sony PS3 back in May, with Matt commenting on the experience:

I enjoyed working on the game. The people I worked with were very thorough, very detailed and very nice. It's a bit like doing Automated Dialogue Recording for a television project, where you re-record some lines after filming. It's a technique I've used before and one that I enjoy.

You've got to make the voiceover and the character on screen match somehow. Obviously you're not moving as you speak and so you've got to apply your voice to the movements of a motion captured character, which can take a couple of attempts sometimes. But it's a rewarding challenge.

Doing the motion capture was really interesting. It's something I've always been intrigued by and wanted to learn about; you get to add the voice and see it all come to fruition. Seeing yourself as a computerised character is one of those rare moments that only happens when you're involved in a show like Doctor Who.